Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 30, 2009 - Obama Resonds to Public Outcry: Will Talk with Gen. McChrystal About Afghanistan Before Meeting with Olympics Committee in Denmark

Senate will address a conference report on the fiscal year 2010 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, H.R. 2918. The bill includes a 30-day continuing resolution to fund the government, as the current fiscal year ends Thursday (Tomorrow!) and Democrats have once again failed to complete work on appropriations bills prior to the deadline. It is questionable on whether the Senate will ever shut down the government so expect a vote in favor of the conference report. A prior ARRA News Service editorial addressed the House's questionable actions while obviously also trying to keep the Government running. Many members of Congress appear to have severe cases of ADD (attention deficit disorder) and / or APD (auditory processing disorder). Only, cure for America, replace them in 2010.

Around 4:30, the Senate will begin a series of votes on the Legislative Branch appropriations conference report. After that, it will resume consideration of the $636 billion fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3326. The Defense bill provides

On Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to resume its markup of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill. The majority of Americans are opposed to this bill in one form or fashion.

After much national criticism of President Obama flying off Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee to select Chicago as the site of the 2016 games without even having talked with the General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, Obama is making a call to the General. According to The New York Times, President Obama will speak with General Stanley McChrystal today via a secure video link. This comes after McChrysal told David Martin in a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday that he’s only met with Obama once since assuming command over seventy days ago.

The NYT writes, “When President Obama looks at the screen in the Situation Room on Wednesday, he will find a face he has not seen lately except in newspapers. There, via secure video from Kabul, will be Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his commander in Afghanistan, explaining directly to the president for the first time why more troops are needed. General McChrystal has not spoken with Mr. Obama since submitting his grim assessment of the war a month ago and has spoken with him only once in the 100 days since he took command of all American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The lack of direct communication has generated criticism and fueled suspicions of strains between the White House and Kabul.”

Indeed, there have been questions following the revelation that Obama has met with Gen. McChrystal only once, especially about the White House’s priorities. A Los Angeles Times story identified the influence of SEIU president Andy Stern at the White House which reports that “Stern estimates he visits the White House once a week.” President Obama has time to meet with the head of a powerful union once a week, but is only now having a second sit-down (albeit over video) with his commander in Afghanistan?

Certainly, the discussion with Gen. McChrystal is a positive development. But memories of past Obama administration actions do raise the question of whether this is designed more for media consumption than anything else. Recall that back in February, just days after Obama signed the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, he hosted a “fiscal responsibility summit” to discuss the long-term budget situation, despite his recent exacerbation of it. And in March, the same day Obama signed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill stuffed with earmarks, he declared that the bill “must mark an end to the old way of doing business,” despite breaking a campaign pledge in doing so.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “The situation in Afghanistan is urgent, and we’re told that action is necessary soon.” Yet, as today’s Washington Posteditorial laments there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of decision-making going on at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: “President Obama's very public wavering over whether to stick with the strategy for Afghanistan that he adopted six months ago is producing some unusual spectacles. One is the awkward gap that has opened between the president and the military commander he appointed in June, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who drew up a plan to implement the strategy -- only to learn he had been left out on a limb that might be sawn off. Another is the lobbying of the president by NATO allies who find themselves trying to keep the United States from abandoning the mission they joined.”

Sen. McConnell said yesterday, “Timing is important. A failure to act decisively in response to General McChrystal’s strategy, and his anticipated request for additional forces, could serve to undermine some of the good decisions the President has made on national security.” As one Senate staffer laments, "Hopefully today’s video conference will assist his decision-making, and isn’t designed simply to paper over a criticism of where the Obama administration’s priorities are at the moment."

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Tags: Afghanistan, Continuing Resolution, General Stanley McChrystal, health care, Olympics, President Barack Obama, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!